[Child of the 7th Age]

Hawthorne slipped one foot out of bed and then the other. She was singing cheerfully as she popped her dress over her head, snatched up her gardening apron and sheers, and prepared to race downstairs to eat some breakfast.

What an utterly gorgeous day! What made it particularly gorgeous was the fact that she had survived the party the night before without any serious mishap. Despite all the rumors to the contrary, she had seen nothing of Cook, the vaunted mistress of the Inn's kitchens, whom many had said was arriving from the west and would give Hawthorne a serious going over.

The doomsayers could talk all they wanted! Hawthorne had enoyed her visit with Uncle Merry. She had danced a bit, sung a bit, and eaten an enormous array of food. She had chatted about the news from Brandybuck Hall, and made several new friends. Altogether, it had been a most pleasurable evening. Even the habitual grumpiness of Ruby and Buttercup towards her had not been enough to spoil her good time.

Hawthorne plunged heedlessly into the Common Room, offering a hearty greeting to the barely recovered Toby who was seemingly trying to drown out the memory of the night before with several ample slices of crisped ham. Hawthorne decided she would finish breakfast and then help tidy up the outside flower beds on which more than one pair of feet had trampled the evening before. After that, she would make her way down to the Water, and return with a string of fresh fish for the kitchen. That evening she hoped to go visit Master Hardhammer who had temporarily taken up residence in the neighborhood of Hobbiton; Regin was performing odd jobs involving metalwork or masonry for which he was generously rewarded by the inhabitants of the Shire who were only too happy to have their burrows improved. Perhaps she could persuade him to make her a little trinket to send back home to her sister.

With a heart more cheerful than she had known in weeks, Mistress Brandybuck sat down to a large breakfast of scrambled eggs and fresh toast....